Managing the Manager Within - [website] Published: 11th of Mar 2011 by: (c) Staff Training Reporter
We've all got a bit of manager in us...
As a manager the pressure to perform well and ensure that your team performs well can be a heavy burden to carry, but managing is also an opportunity to learn and lead and there are many lessons that can be transferred and applied to your everyday life, whether you’re a manager or not.
Being a manager is not something you stop being when you leave the office in the evening and the skills you learn stick with you. Managers will find decision-making easier, delegation more natural and will be more confident of themselves and their authority.
But each of us as individuals are also responsible for managing ourselves – like in the office where we have to meet our deadlines, get work from colleagues, make targets etc., or at home where we have to organise the paying of bills, transportation of kids, cleaning, cooking and social life etc. – and the following tips can help make it easier for the manager within you.
Whether it’s delegation, assertiveness, or conflict resolution there is always something demanding that we act in a mature, managerial way – even at home – so what should we pay attention to?
- One of the most important tips a manager could get would be to locate the source of a problem instead of focussing on the blame. You may feel that justice has been done when you focus on blame, but you’re still left with the problem or the possibility of the problem recurring.
This tip goes far beyond managers, and in fact far beyond the workplace. It should be how we all go about resolving issues – identifying the cause of the problem and addressing it instead of pointing fingers at each other.
- Setting an example. Again, while this piece of advice is extremely pertinent to managers, it’s actually applicable to everyone. In the same way as when we ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’, when we set a positive example we become role models for those around us, whether they are colleagues, friends or family.
- Be precise in your instructions. For us to get the best results from the people we work and live with we need to be explicit in our formulation of requests. For example, you can’t reasonably expect whatever you’ve asked someone to do to be done in a day if you haven’t said when you need it by. Being more assertive and precise in your instructions and requests also leads to a more results-oriented way of life, which means less waiting around on people for things to be done.
- Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. No mistake is worth making twice, not if getting it right matters. But pay attention to the mistakes others make and learn from them; you’ll then be able to avoid making them yourself.
- Finally, listen to others. You can’t learn anything new if you’re too busy defending your own opinion to listen. By hearing everyone out you just might see the solution begin to form.
